Building a library - Recommendations for Beginners

Absolute beginners have special requirements.
They need music which is not too complex which will help them to understand the rhythm and melody of tango, as well as music which will inspire them!

Compared to our "essential" selection, we offered a different D'Arienzo cd.
Troilo and Pugliese lost their places to Canaro and Caló. Only the Di Sarli survived unchanged.

Tango Collection - Juan D'Arienzo

RGS 1639

D'Arienzo was the musician who propelled a city to its feet and these are the tracks with which he did it.
This cd is stuffed to the gunnels with tangos which are strong and rhythmic without being as fast paced as his 50s sides, and it's also quite cheap.

Francisco Canaro - Bailando Tangos, Valses y Milongas

Reliquias 595159

Canaro was a populist, happy to accept his very considerable gifts to whatever seemed most popular at the time.
This made him extremely successful, although as time progressed his work had less and less character.
This cd has tracks recorded between 1935 and 1941, which, unsurprisingly, is roughly the same time frame as the D'Arienzo cd above.
The strong rhythms and simple rhythms are easy to enjoy, and the milongas are treasures

Miguel Caló / Raúl Berón - Al compás del corazón

Reliquias 837413

Miguel Caló made some of the most romantic and lyrical music of the 1940s.
Assembling a team of top musicians, many of whom went on to lead orchestras of their own, his
Orchestra of the stars played arrangements of exquisite taste.

In 1942 Caló took a great risk in recording the track Al compás del corazón with his new vocalist Raúl Berón
The lyric by the Exposito brothers was a great innovation: no broken hearts, but essentially a happy tango about a love on the road to fulfillment, with no looming shadows.
It was a huge success, and together they established a new style, which was an evolution of tango at the emotional level.

This cracking cd, one of the very first on the Reliquias label, includes that breakthrough track and many more of equal quality. Essential.

RCA Victor 100 Años - Carlos Di Sarli

BMG 87490

Di Sarli was the master of melody in tango.
This CD presents recordings from the late 1950s, towards the end of his career, and contains most of the instrumentals he recorded at this time.
The transfers are taken directly from the original studio tapes and sound as if they were recorded yesterday.
This music has been overplayed, but for good reason: it's just immaculate, and the slow beat is as good for beginners as it is for advanced dancers,
who will interpret this music in a different way.

If you already have this cd, then take Instrumental vol.2 on Tango Argentino instead.
(There is a space on the PayPal payment form marked "special instructions to seller" which will allow you to tell us this).